Bastien to Compete in Georgia; Wolverines at Auburn
4/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
April 6, 2016
» While many U-M athletes are in Alabama, All-American Steven Bastien is competing in the Bulldog decathlon competition at the University of Georgia (April 6-7).
» Michigan State's Spartan Invitational, scheduled for this weekend, was cancelled.
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THIS WEEK
Wed-Thu., April 6-7 -- at Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon (Athens, Ga.), 1:30 p.m.
Georgia Home Meet Info | Meet Schedule 
| Heat Sheets | Live Results
Fri-Sat., April 8-9 -- at Tiger Classic (Auburn, Ala.), 2 p.m./11 a.m. CDT
Auburn Home Meet Info | Live Results | Meet Schedule | Heat Sheets | Tiger Classic Info
Coming off a well-rounded team performance at last weekend's Battle of the Blues meet (April 1-2), the University of Michigan men's track and field team charges into another weekend of stiff competition with a pair of events on deck. The site of the Tiger Track Classic is the Hutsell-Rosen Track in Auburn, Alabama, while Bastien's decathlon competition will happen at Spec Towns Track in Athens, Georgia.
Several U-M throwers, along with a few sprinters and hurdlers, will compete at Auburn's Tiger Track Classic, facing some of the SEC's top competition. Meanwhile, senior/junior Steven Bastien is competing at the Bulldog Decathlon/Heptathlon competition this week (Wednesday-Thursday, April 6-7) in Athens, Georgia.
Friday events at Auburn begin with the hammer throw at 2 p.m. CDT, and Saturday events pick up at 11 a.m. CDT, but the U-M men will begin at noon with the discus. The Hutsell-Rosen Track facility was completed prior to the 2006 season and includes Benyon Sports Surface's BSS 2000 track surface, with jumping and throwing areas, grandstand seating, field lighting and more.
In Athens, events at Spec Towns Track begin at 1:30 p.m. on both days of competition, beginning with the 100-meter dash on Wednesday and the 110-meter hurdles on Thursday. With a renovation completed after the 2009 season, the Georgia facilities feature a 400-meter track, two re-designed throwing circles with cages, five vaulting areas, four expanded long jump areas, two javelin runways, a shot put area and two high jump pits.
THINGS TO KNOW
• Now in his second year at U-M, Bastien redshirted the outdoor 2015 season and is set to make his outdoor debut at Michigan this week. He is looking to break the 7,000-point barrier and build on the previous career-best score he established at Samford in 2014.
• Though his first decathlon as a Wolverine will happen this week, Bastien owns two All-America honors in the heptathlon, with a pair of eighth-place finishes coming in the 2015-16 indoor seasons.
• Among the dozen or so athletes competing at Auburn this weekend, U-M will have athletes in the 200, 400 and 800 as well as the 400-meter hurdles. In the field, athletes will compete in the high jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, hammer and javelin throw.
• This weekend will be a nostalgic one for head coach Jerry Clayton, now in his third season. Clayton spent his previous 15 years at Auburn before coming to U-M.
• Michigan is in the midst of its best season of the Clayton era. U-M finished the Big Ten Indoor Championships in fourth, just two points shy of a runner-up showing, and all five competing athletes earned All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships (March 11-12).
• U-M is coming off an excellent team performance last weekend at the Battle of the Blues meet (April 1-2) in Durham, North Carolina. The tri-meet, hosted by Duke, pitted the Wolverines with the Blue Devils as well as the No. 20-ranked Tar Heels of North Carolina.
• Nineteen (19) different athletes scored in 17 different events at Duke, helping U-M erase a day-two deficit to bring the meet down to the wire, with final placing being decided in the 4x400-meter relay. U-M ended 4.5 meets behind North Carolina but won eight events (five on the track, three in the circle) during an impressive overall showing.
• U-M strength coach Bo Sandoval, who works with the Michigan track and field programs, was named Head Coach of Team USA Weightlifting for the Aquece Rio Weightlifting Test Event in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, this week. [ Release ]
• Michigan opened the outdoor season ranked No. 21 in the USTFCCCA's Program of the Year race after placing 11th during the cross country season and scoring both entries at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
• After an excellent indoor season, U-M is poised for an even better outdoor campaign: the Maize and Blue returns eight scorers and 18 overall athletes who competed at the 2015 Outdoor Big Ten Championships.
A LOOK AHEAD
Thu-Sat., April 14-16 -- at Mount SAC Relays/Long Beach Invitational (Norwalk, Calif.)
Saturday, April 16 -- at Don Kleinow Invitational (Siena Heights, Mich.)
TWEET OF THE WEEK
We're happy to be in the No. 1 College Town in America (via @Forbes).
See what Ann Arbor is all about! pic.twitter.com/yjZbbL4uKA-- Michigan Track&Field (@umichtrack) April 5, 2016
Communications Contact: Chad Shepard
